A:
I think I was born with three loves: dogs, horses, and art. I don’t remember a time when my life hasn’t been shaped by them. I drew constantly as a child and teen, and took my university degree with a Fine Arts major.
After that, I continued to work on my own and to read and learn about various media. I spent a number of years working in stained glass, both window pieces and glass mosaic. I had always taken my own reference photos for artwork, but didn’t really know what I was doing with my camera.
When I got my first digital DSLR camera a dozen or so years ago, I was able to spend a lot more time figuring out the photography end of things without it costing a lot in film processing.
I got so I could take a decent photo, but I wanted to go farther with my images, which meant learning Photoshop. By the time I had acquired some Photoshop skills, the original photographs were just the raw materials for totally new images. My new motto was “reality is only a starting point”.
My current work consists of photo-based images, either one-of-a-kind mixed media pieces which combine “real-life” art media with photo images, or the digital collages that are featured on my website. These can take a lot of time and effort to create, but the bonus is that once an image is completed, it can be reproduced in a variety of formats and sizes and at an accessible price, so they can be purchased and enjoyed by anyone that wants one.
Q: When you create these Boxer art pieces, do you have a Boxer stand in as a model?
A:
All the animals in my photo collages are from my own photos of either my own dogs or of dogs I have met and photographed. This is partly for copyright reasons, but mostly because the contact and immediacy of working from my own photos adds meaning to the process for me.
Q: Exactly what type of artwork are these paintings?
A:
I currently work in photo based mixed media and digitally altered photography.